How an eclectic restoration shop became the Miller authority overnight

[Bryan]

Last year, on a damp spring morning, fabricator Ed Linn and several of his employees stuffed a 26-foot U-Haul, two pickup truck beds, and two enclosed trailers with parts, patterns, and drawings made by American race car builder Harry A. Miller. From 1926 to 1934, Miller-designed cars won nine Indianapolis 500s. Miller-based Offenhauser engines won an additional 29, starting in 1935.

Now, Linn and his crew were loading blueprints covered in Miller’s shorthand math, wooden bucks emblazoned with his signature, and engine components thought only to exist on monochrome film. At nearly a century old, the Smithsonian-grade collection is the majority of all known Miller inventory. Linn, a longtime Miller fanatic, got wind the previous owner was looking to sell the lot. Once he and the seller agreed to terms, the collection traded hands in less than 24 hours. Now more than a thousand patterns, 10,000 technical drawings, and countless Miller projects fill the walls and the halls of Linn’s shop, EDL Services, in Troy, Michigan ... Read the full article on Hagerty.com:

https://www.hagerty.com/media/magazine-features/how-an-eclectic-restoration-shop-became-the-miller-a...

[drm101]

Hopefully they've heard of Bill at Dynamo Enterprises in Lake Orion. I would love to visit that shop and hope that one day I can hear one of those engines run. Miller, Offenhauser, and Goossen, along with the rest of Miller's team did unbelievable things, especially considering the resources available at that time. 

[redge]

Agreed!

[CJinSD]

Without the Miller 91, there never would have been a Bugatti Type 51. On the one hand, they were important cars from a time when the US built the best cars in the world of all types. On the other hand, the US started withdrawing from some areas of the market during the Depression and the Mustang's success killed the last American ambitions for automotive excellence. 

[Zephyr]

Trivia - how do you move a 7,000 lb lathe? A friend of my father did it by having the moving truck drop the lathe onto several blocks of ice and then sliding the lathe across the concrete floor to it's final position. Once the ice melted the job was done.

[dfogle]

I had a Miller 91 overhead cam conversion kit for my model A Ford. I needed money when I was in college and sold it for $500. That was in the late ‘60s. Boy what would it be worth today?